The Captain I Married by Chance novel Chapter 518

"The boss is having the pens overhauled. He shipped the herds out to a secondary pasture until the construction is done," he muttered.

Nora's gaze drifted toward a row of holding pens. Her eyes zeroed in on the rusted feeding troughs running along the fence line.

She was no agricultural expert, but even she knew what a feeding trough was supposed to look like.

And these looked entirely wrong.

A thick, reddish-brown crust coated the metal, baking under the sun like dried, rotting sludge.

"Does anyone actually maintain the equipment?" Nora interjected smoothly.

She pitched her voice to sound mildly curious, completely non-threatening.

"I told you, the crew is on furlough. Nobody is out here scrubbing troughs," he replied dismissively.

Nora hummed in faux sympathy. "That has to be rough. Does he at least pay you guys during the shutdown?"

"You must be hurting for cash with the operation stalled like this."

The mention of lost wages hit a nerve. The man let out a bitter scoff, finally engaging.

"You're damn right it hurts."

"We've been sitting on our asses for weeks. We break our backs out here for hourly wages. Without the hours, we don't eat. It pisses me off, especially watching the other ranches in the valley hauling in profits while we're stuck in limbo."

Nora slid her hands into her jacket pockets, her posture completely relaxed.

"Have you considered finding work somewhere else?" she asked casually.

The man shot her a derisive glare.

"Easy for a cop to say. I've been a slaughterhouse butcher since I was a teenager. What the hell else am I supposed to do?"

"You don't just walk into a cushy corporate job with a resume full of meat packing."

"This gig was actually solid. The hours were steady, the pay was great. Nobody saw the crackdown coming."

"Crackdown?" Nora prompted gently.

With the perceived threat neutralized, the man descended into a rambling tirade about the ranch's past financial struggles and mismanagement.

Julia trailed behind them, her jaw practically scraping the dirt as she watched Nora effortlessly manipulate the hostile suspect into a casual conversation.

She couldn't glean any tactical value from the small talk. She just assumed Nora was engaging the guy to keep the atmosphere from turning violently tense again.

As Julia was lost in her thoughts, a compact, three-story red brick building loomed ahead.

Unlike the rusted outbuildings, the brick structure looked recently renovated and well-maintained.

The man reached out, shoving the heavy front door open. Julia instinctively stepped forward to follow him inside, but Nora's hand suddenly clamped down on her wrist like a vice.

"Get back!" Nora barked.

The sharp command shocked Julia. She froze for a split second before pure adrenaline kicked in, and she violently threw herself backward.

The man, half-swallowed by the shadows of the doorway, let out a dark, predatory sneer. His hand plunged into his pocket and whipped out a heavy, metallic object.